Bookworm

Just finished watching the Swedish movie version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". More like, just finished sleeping through the Swedish movie version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Okay, the movie wasn't that bad, and I'm still feeling very fatigued, but I was not impressed. It dragged on for about 2 and a half hours. The English voiceovers were quite flat and lifeless, so it was difficult to feel any emotion from the characters. In fact, the actors themselves did not do the characters justice, regardless of the sloppy subtitles. For a book that kept me on my toes until the very end, the movie certainly did not.

I've seen several other movies-based-on-books this summer, that did not live up to the book's greatness. My Sister's Keeper and The Lovely Bones being two of them. It is definitely not easy to create a good movie from a book. Readers often create their own visions of what characters and settings look like, and can be quite disappointed when the real life actors don't match up to his or her vision (I was quite disillusioned with the not-so-attractive Blomkvist in tonight's movie). Books can also hold so many intricate details, which can be nearly impossible to fit into a 2 hour movie. One of the faults of this movie is that it tried to squeeze in ALL the details of the book, of which there are MANY, therefore making it unbearably long.

Personally, I would much prefer reading the book to seeing the movie. There is something so much more original, imaginative, and involved in reading the text. But there are quite a few movies-based-on-books that I also love...

-Harry Potter--I mean, come on, who doesn't love the Harry Potter movies?

-Breakfast at Tiffany's--I loved Truman Capote's novella, and the movie version is quite different. But the movie is just so charming; and the clothes and Audrey Hepburn...it's just a recipe for love.

-To Kill a Mockingbird--Classic book, classic movie.

-Twilight--Not that I think these movies are quality movies by any means, but the books are SO poorly written, that it's not hard to make a movie version better than the book. And who doesn't love to drool over Jacob (Taylor Lautner)?

-Eat Pray Love--Well I obviously haven't seen this one yet, since it has yet to come out in theaters. But I am anxiously awaiting its debut. Julia Roberts+Gelato+Italy=High Hopes.

See you at the movies!